Instruction roll



June 16, 1925.

y l. MCK. BLOCH INSTRUCTION ROLL 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June :5, 1922 I M92323"; ,Z z Zeljz l ce mac I 7mm June 16. 1925.

I. MCK. BLOCH INSTRUCTION ROLL Filed June 3, 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented June 16, 1925.

UNITED STATESPATENT caries.

istaeza ISABELLE MCKEE BLOCK, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO THE Q R S MUSIC COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

INSTRUCTION ROLL.

Application filed June 3, 1922. Serial No. 565,691.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ISABELLE MoKnn BLoeH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook, State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Instruction Rolls, of which the following is a specifica-' tion, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part thereof.

The purpose of this invention is toprovide an improved form of erforated note sheet or music roll, so-calle for automatic players, adapted to be utilized in connection with the player for giving musical 1nstruction. It consists in the superficial elements and features shown and described, comprising markings of staff notations and manual interlineations with relation to. the perforated area, and to the particular perforations corresponding to the staff notations and manual key interlineations, all as indicated in the claims.

In the drawings Figure 1 shows a portion of a perforated note sheet or music roll, having certaln features of this invention.

Figure 2 is a further portion of the same roll which may be understood as lmmedlately following the portion shown in Figure 1, presenting the same feature as shown n Figure 1, as it becomes modified in certain sorts of note combinations.

Figure 3 shows a further port1on of the same music roll or note sheet presenting the feature shown in Figure 1 in combination with another feature involving pictorial representation of the manual keys.

Figure 4 shows a further portion of the same roll presenting the additional feature of Figure 3 disassociated from that shown in Figure 1.

Figure 5 may be understood as showlng a further portion of the sameroll presenti the feature shown in Figure 4 as applied to the black keys of the piano instead of to the white keys.

Figure 6 shows a further part of the roll, incidentally illustrating'the roll spool, and presenting the feature of Figure 2 as appiti to a scale other than that of the key 0 The note sheet or music roll, A, has slots or perforations constituting a musical exercise, which, as shown, may consist of the successive notes of a natural or major scale,

of which the slots, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc., are successive along the length of the roll,and progressively offset laterally from each other, according to the advance in pitch. At each of thelimited areas containing the respective slots, there is imprinted on the roll a portion of'a bar ofordinary staff notation,.w-ith the note corresponding to the slot imprinted in its proper place on the staff; and also so that the noterimprint is cut by the slot. to which it corresponds. And in order that the slots cutting the im print of the note shall not materially disgure the latter, or mutilate it so as to render it illegible or of doubtful import, the staff delineation and the notes thereon are magnified very much beyond any usual size of printing music note sheets, and beyond any size which it would be necessary or desirable to employ for ease of reading the same onthe music roll. The slots as ordinarily cut in commercial music rolls are from th to th of an inch in width; and the staff notes, of smaller size,quarter notes and less,are designed to be made of diameters several times this slot width; and the drawings may be so understood.

Tied and repeated notes, of which the staff markings are necessarilyclose together and cannot be correctly shown separate or on separate imprints of the staff, are treated as a single note with respect to cutting the area in which they stand by the slot; only, that in this case only one of the slots, and preferably the first one, is made to cut the area allottedtothe staff notes. That is, the staff is imprinted so that-the stafi note character, the imprint of the tied or repeated notes, considered as a single character, is cut by the slot which plays the first of the tied or repeated notes. Instances of such tied or repeated note' areas cut by the slot corresponding to the first note of the couple or group are seen at B, B B

The purpose of the association of the staff note with the slot is partly to cause the definite association of pitch with the position of the note on the stafi; which is accomplished by the pupil hearing the note struck while he is looking at the staff notation of it. An analogous purposeis to cause the pupil to associate the pitch of the note struck with the manual key for that purpose; and for this purpose, at a part of the roll, preferably immediately following that having the staff notation out by the slot, there are imprinted on the perforated area. of the note sheet pictorial representations or delineations of recogn ole fragments of a manual of keyed inst ument, as a piano or organ, enough keys being shown in the fragn'ient represented to identify those that appear; that is, the fragment should contain either two black kys with the associ ated white keys, or three black keys with the associated white keys. And this picture or delineation of the manual key fragments is positioned so that the slot which plays a certain note of the fragment contained in the picture cuts the picture or delineation of the corresponding key. Instances of such pictorial fragments on the manual with the representation of a selected key cut by the slots for playing the corresponding notes are seen at c, 0 on Figure 4t.

lVith this expedient for associating the manual key with the pitch, it is possible to combine,and in Figure 3 there is shown a combinationof the expedient illustrated in Figure 1, consisting of the staff notation of the note corresponding to the slot; and this is accomplished by printing the staff notation over the pictorial delineation of the fragment of the manual with the note imprint falling upon the imprint of the corresponding manual key, in which, through which or into which, the corresponding slot is cut. Instances ofthis combination of the two expedients are shown at C, C C, on Figure 3. In the employment of the pictorial representation or delineation of a frag ment of the manual in association with the slot, or with the slots and the staff notation, tied and repeated notes are treated as unitary characters as to the area occupied by them lz-eing cut by the slot, as already described in respect to the repeated and tied notes so cut in Figure 1.

In simple scale exercises the feature last described will. commonly necessitate the repetition of the staff imprint for each note, as seen in Figures 1 and 2.

As a matter of instructional convenience, the letter name of'the notes may be printed upon the staff notation adjacent to the note imprints respectively, as seen in Figures Al and 5.

I claim 1. A perforated web for controlling the performance of an automatic musical instrument, having imprinted transversely thereon at the perforated area thereof staff notation of certain parts ofthe music, the characters of the staff notation being printed over the areas proximate to the corresponding perforations, so that said. perforations cut through or closely adjacent to the come spendingstaff characters respectively.

2. In theconstruction defined in claim 1, foregoing, theperforated web having successively positioned slots for playing respectively the notes of a musical exercise, the staff notation for the respective notebeing imprinted at the perforations respectively, with the delineations of the staff lines and clef repeated for each note or group of closely associated notes.

3. In the construction defined in claim 1, foregoing, the characters of the staff notation being of such large dimensions in cone parison with the width of the slots as not to be materially disfigured or rendered illegible by the perforations cutting through them.

i. In the construction defined in claim 1, foregoing, the staff notes being printed distinguishahly with respect to color from the black-line appearance of the slots.

5. An instruction roll for utilizing automatic playing devices for teaching manual playing, having imprinted over the areas containing the slots for automatic playing, delineations of significant portions of the manual of the instrument with which the note sheet is designed to co-operate, the slots being cut through the delineation of the keys which correspond to the slots respectively.

6. An instruction roll for utilizina au 0- matic playing devices for teaching manual playing. having in comhinatioi'i with the )GI'fOlEltC areas thereof, delineations of sections of the manual of the ke ed instrunueut with which the note sheet is desired to cooperate, the slots cutting through the delineations of the keys which correspond to said slots respectively, and the web having imprinted upon the same perforate area across the delineation of the keys, a staff with clef, and with the note corresponding to the key, and to the slot imprinted on said key-delineation.

7. An automatic player and note sheet for utilizing automatic playing devices for teaching manual playing. perforated for playing a musical exercise of which the notes atadiacent intervals require length of the note sheet for each note at intervals adequate for im 'n'inting crosswise of the note sheet a stall? with clef and having staff and clef so imprinted with the notes corresponding to the respective slots positioned in the width of the sheet in accordance with the pitch and in the length of the sheet in accordance with the time intervals between the striking of the consecutive notes respectively.

8. An automatic player and note sheet for utilizing automatic playing devices for teaching manual playing, of which the re spective notes and in their adjacent intervals require length of such notes and interval adequate for imprinting upon the note sheet the recognizable delineation of a seetion of the manual of a keyed instrument,

and having such delineation so imprinted with the keys corresponding to the respective slotspositioned so as to be cut by the said slots respectively.

9. In the construction defined in claim 5, foregoing, the note sheet having imprinted over the manual key delineation suitable portions of a stafl' with clef and with the note correspondin to the slot imprinted IIIIPOII the delineation of the corresponding 10. In the construction defined in claim 5, foregoing, the note sheet having imprinted over the manual key delineation suitable portions of a staff with clef and with the letter name of the note corresponding to the slot imprinted upon the delineation of the corresponding key.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand at Chic-ago, Illinois, this 31st day 20 of May, 1922.

ISABELLE MoKEE BLOCH. 

